A cargo handling device for goods containers, especially containers in railway traffic, is disclosed in German application laid open DE 27 52 212 A1. In one embodiment depicted there, the cargo handling device includes a gantry crane with a crane trolley, from which a telescoping mast is hung. The mast has three telescopic segments. The upper end of the uppermost telescopic segment is rigidly fastened to the crane trolley, while at the lower end of the lowermost telescopic segment is rigidly hung a C-shaped frame. This C-shaped frame, with upper horizontal arms and lower horizontal arms, is provided so as to be able to move the load suspension means hanging from the lower horizontal arm sideways underneath an overhead line of a railroad section. In order to move the C-shaped frame and the load suspension means in the raising and lowering direction, cables with drums are arranged on the crane trolley, from which a total of four cables run to cable rollers disposed on the top of the horizontal arms.
A bridge crane for the stacking of containers, especially ISO containers, is disclosed in European patent EP 1 365 984 B1, which moves containers into and/or out from a storage area inside a container terminal. The bridge crane has a crane girder, which spans the width of an essentially cubical storage area. On the crane girder, a crane trolley can travel along its lengthwise direction in the width direction of the storage area. The crane girder can travel on running gears in the direction of travel of the crane and thus transversely to the crane trolley on the crane girder, and also in the lengthwise direction of the storage area. In order to handle the containers, a mast is disposed on the crane trolley, being guided and able to be raised or lowered in the vertical direction. The mast is fashioned as a box girder, and lifting gears are arranged on the crane trolley for the raising and lowering movement of the mast. At the lower end of the mast, pointing in the direction of the containers being handled, a load suspension means for containers, especially a so-called spreader, is hung by a pivot. The load suspension means is connected by cables to the lifting gears on the crane trolley. The mast is not driven directly in the raising and lowering direction, but only indirectly by the cables engaging with the load suspension means. The use of a rigid mast between the crab and the load suspension means brings the advantage that the container can be handled with little swaying motion, unlike the load suspension means that are also used and hung solely from cables.
Furthermore, a gantry crane for the handling of containers and swap bodies between railway and road is disclosed in European patent EP 0 796 813 B1. In keeping with the usual design of a gantry crane, a crane trolley is provided that can travel on a crane girder in its lengthwise direction, on which are fastened two hydraulic piston-cylinder units, one behind the other when looking in the direction of travel of the gantry crane, and at a spacing from each other. The piston-cylinder units are each vertically oriented and include a lift cylinder and a piston rod moved therein. The lift cylinders are rigidly fastened to the crane trolley and the piston rods starting from the crane trolley can extend downward in the lowering direction and be retracted in corresponding manner in the lifting direction. A hanger frame is fastened to the ends of the piston rods that are opposite the crane trolley by means of oblong hole connections, and a load suspension means in the form of a spreader frame is hung from this. The connection of the hanger frame by oblong hole connections to the piston rods was chosen to equalize differences in the synchronized movement of the piston-cylinder units and any slanted position of the container. Furthermore, the hanger arm and the load suspension means disposed therein are offset to the side by at least 500 mm in relation to the lengthwise axis of the two piston-cylinder units so that containers or swap bodies can also be set down by the gantry crane on a railroad car or picked up from it and at the same time an overhead guide wire can run underneath due to the sideways offset arrangement of the load suspension means on the piston rod.
Moreover, another crane layout for handling of containers in railway traffic disclosed in German patent laid open DE 29 11 938 B2. This crane layout is also designed as a gantry crane, having a crane trolley with a mast guided on it and able to travel in the lifting and lowering direction. At the lower end of this mast is firmly disposed a jib that projects sideways in relation to the lengthwise direction of the mast, on which a load suspension means for the container is hung by means of a rotary connection with a vertical axis of rotation. The mast can be raised and lowered by a cable mechanism, whose cable is attached to the mast in the region of the lower third of the mast. In addition to the rotary connection on the load suspension means, the crane trolley has a rotation device with a circular running track, on which a rotary frame can travel by running wheels about a vertical axis. The mast is hung eccentrically from the rotary frame, and so it can likewise rotate along with the cable mechanism. Thanks to these double rotation capabilities in the area of the load suspension means and the crane trolley, when swinging the container in and out underneath a guide wire of an overhead line, the container should not lose its parallel orientation to a railroad car being loaded or unloaded.
Furthermore, the German utility model DE 200 13 245 U1 discloses a mechanism for the handling of containers, which is configured as a half-gantry crane. Here as well there is a mast suspended from a crane trolley and able to travel vertically in the raising and lowering direction. At the lower end of the mast, a connection arm is disposed, projecting horizontally and to the side, on which a load suspension means for containers or cargo units is hung, in order to be able to set down and pick up containers sideways on a railroad car underneath a guide wire of an overhead line. Here as well, the mast is joined to the crane trolley by a rotary device.